Jonathan Pollard, the former U.S. Naval intelligence analyst whose conviction of spying for Israel stoked fierce international passions, has been granted parole and will be released from prison in November after nearly 30 years.

The decision to free Pollard from his life sentence, announced Tuesday by his lawyers and then confirmed by the Justice Department, caps an extraordinary espionage case after decades of legal and diplomatic wrangling. Critics have condemned the American as a traitor who betrayed his country for money and disclosed damaging secrets, while supporters have argued that he was punished excessively given that he spied for a U.S. ally.

The White House is in the "final stages" of a plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday.

President Barack Obama made the closure of the controversial offshore prison a priority when he took office in 2009, but the plan has faced numerous setbacks, including Congress blocking the transfer of detainees to U.S. prisons.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Tuesday discussed the "urgent" need to end fighting in Yemen, hours after Saudi-backed loyalists retook control of Aden airport.

After discussion about a recently inked nuclear deal with Iran, the White House said Obama and Salman "also spoke about the urgency of stopping the fighting in Yemen and the importance of ensuring that assistance can reach Yemenis on all sides of the conflict."

U.S. President Barack Obama and the leader of Vietnam's Communist Party on Tuesday held what both called "candid" discussions on human rights during a historic White House meeting as the onetime enemies seek to bolster ties.

Nguyen Phu Trong is the first general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party to visit the United States and the White House, and was given the rare honor of an Oval Office welcome, usually reserved for heads of state and government.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist and 2016 candidate for president, has applauded Greece's rejection of a bailout referendum at the height of the country's standoff with European Union creditors.

"I applaud the people of Greece for saying 'No' to more austerity for the poor, the children, the sick and the elderly," Sanders said in a statement late Sunday.

Hillary Clinton announced Wednesday she raised a record $45 million in the first quarter of her U..S presidential bid, putting the Democratic frontrunner in prime financial position in the opening months of her 2016 campaign.

"Here's what we know: In the first quarter of this campaign, supporters gave more than $45 million," Clinton wrote in a tweet.